Sustainability

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Heating is enable in the residence halls after October 15th and the outdoor temperature is below 58 degrees. To adjust your radiator valve, open the door and find the valve. Rotate the valve clockwise for less heat and counter clockwise for more heat. Never close the...

Grinnell College is dedicated to environmental sustainability.
The College:
Has an Environmental Responsibility and Sustainability Advisory Committee.
Signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment to achieve climate neutrality.
Is one of the most...

Grinnell sits in the middle of a vast and dynamic environment known as prairie. Tall grasses, flowering plants, deep root systems, soil, and fire comprise the ecosystem. The complex root system means that two-thirds of the prairie lives below ground, and that fire will destroy...

News Item

It’s a beautiful day for the 169th Commencement of Grinnell College, beginning at 10 a.m. on Central Campus.
Join us as we celebrate our newest graduates. You can:
Watch the live stream beginning at 10 a.m. CDT (GMT -05:00).
Follow and join the conversation on Twitter: #...

For the past decade, Grinnell College has prioritized environmental sustainability, which is itself a social justice issue, in both constructing new buildings and maintaining century-old ones.
Building a Sustainable Campus
The Conard Environmental Research Area’s Environmental...

Bill Stowe ’81, CEO of Des Moines Water Works, works on issues of water quality.
“For 150 years my predecessors spent a lot of time on infrastructure issues and understanding the science of water treatment,” says Bill Stowe. “We kind of took for granted that consumers should...

Keeping track of nearly twenty local environmental groups can be difficult for the sustainability-minded student.
The student-led A More Sustainable Grinnell conference is designed to help.
The conference will provide information about the environmental history of the College,...

Nestled between two College-owned houses across the street from Younker Hall are nine vegetable beds, a greenhouse, a toolshed, and a brightly painted sign welcoming visitors to the campus garden. Since 1999, the plot has been a hands-on bridge between students and Iowa’s...

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Lonnie Gamble, assistant professor of sustainable living, Maharishi University of Management, will teach the principles of ecological design and the application of permaculture principles in two related sessions.
Gamble says, "the sustainability revolution, like the...

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This article appeared as a web extra for The Grinnell Magazine, Fall 2009.
Photos by Jim Heemstra
The beauty of a late summer Iowa day provides a backdrop for the continuing construction on Phase II of Grinnell's Athletic and Fitness Center, north of 10th Avenue.
The...

Carissa Shoemaker ’14 and Stephanie Porter ’14 organized "A More Sustainable Grinnell" this December. It's aim, they said, was to bring “order, cooperation, and cohesion to the environmental groups on campus” through a discussion of current sustainability practices on campus, as...

The Grinnell College Board of Trustees initiated a series of studies at its February meeting designed to result in a wind farm to supply power for college use. College officials are now preparing a financing plan, performing feasibility studies and considering locations to...

Grinnell College will celebrate its Class of 2015 at this year’s exercises of commencement on Monday, May 18. The ceremony, in which approximately 400 students will receive the Bachelor of Arts degree, will feature an address by noted environmentalist and author Bill McKibben...

A native of Des Moines, Iowa, Nick Hunter ’15 is used to the Iowa State Fair. Named the “world’s greatest state fair” by Buzzfeed, it’s internationally acclaimed and a regular entry on best state fair lists from The Travel Channel to Country Living. With more than a million...

In the fall and winter of 2010, closely following the completion of the new Charles Benson Bear '39 Recreation and Athletic Center, workers dismantled and largely recycled the College’s Physical Education Complex (PEC).
You can read all about the 1971 building’s history in the...

Living Sustainably in Place at Grinnell College presents a dynamic series of events developed by a partnership of environmental, food, and social justice groups, centers, and committees that will bring the Grinnell community together to express our commitment to preserving and...

Grinnell College will host a series of events throughout April and early May in celebration of Earth Month. The free, public events will be focused on local food, volunteering and exploration.
The events will take place throughout the city, with a focus toward "getting rooted in...

Mary Seely, a scientist with a history of work in environmental science, education and policy in southern Africa, will deliver a lecture at 4:15 p.m. Thursday, April 30, 2015, the Noyce Science Center, Room 2021.
Seely's lecture is titled "Gobabeb, Grinnell and the Namib Sand...

The Center for Prairie Studies offers many ways for you explore the prairie this fall, including:
Nightfall on the PrairieJoin us at the Conard Environmental Research Area on Sept. 6 to experience the allure and beauty of the prairie after the sun sets. Activiteis include a...

Jonathan Higgins ’80 is a freshwater conservationist who studies river basin ecosystems. He’s director of conservation for The Nature Conservancy’s Great Rivers Program.
Without an accurate understanding of how a river basin such as the Mississippi has been managed historically...

In a way, you could say the academic drive that eventually led Doug Bechtel ’89 to his new job as executive director of Audubon International started in a Shakespeare class at Grinnell College.
A class in which he struggled.
“The Grinnell faculty fostered in me and my classmates...

8–10 p.m., Fri., Sept. 6, Conard Environmental Research AreaRain date: Sat., Sept. 7. Call 641-269-4384 for rain-call information.
Experience the allure and beauty of the prairie after the sun sets as you explore the College’s Conard Environmental Research Area (CERA)....

Each year, the College starts a recycling project during finals week that lasts until New Student Orientation (NSO) in the fall.
Stuff is collected
When students leave at the end of the year, they purge what they’ve accumulated. The Student Environmental Committee salvages it....

More than 3,350 pounds of food — about the weight of a Ford Mustang — was donated to families in the Grinnell community during the 2013­–14 school year.
This intensive effort was led by Dylan Bondy ’16, who started the Grinnell College chapter of the Food Recovery Network (FRN)...

Birds captivate us through color, song, and flight. Where have they been? Where are they going? Will they return?
A partnership between Grinnell College’s Conard Environmental Research Area (CERA) and experienced bird bander Robert Van Ersvelde will help answer these questions...

Entering the Noyce Science Center's northeastern stairwell, you may note a welcome change to the décor: 27 glowing firefly sculptures, made of wire and light-emitting diodes (LEDs), now line the banister. The fireflies are the result of a summer Mentored Advanced Project (MAP)...

Lisa Schulte Moore will discuss the results of her social-ecological research on innovative land management practices in “Tweak, Adapt, Transform: Building a Resilient Future for Agriculture in Iowa and Beyond.” The free public lecture will begin at 7 p.m., Monday, March 9, in...

Three Grinnell students and associate professor of theatre Lesley Delmenico traveled to India last spring to learn more about social implications of drought.
Delmenico developed a theatre production about women and sustainable water issues in India. Students Sunanda Vaidheesh ’...

News Release

GRINNELL, IA—The Grinnell College Department of Theatre and Dance will premiere the U.S. production of “The Contingency Plan” by British playwright Steve Waters, Oct. 7-10, in Flanagan Arena Theatre in the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts on the Grinnell campus.
The play, which...